Appeals court upholds conviction of Arizona man who orchestrated illegal adoption scheme in SWAR

By Patrick Massey

A former Arizona politician convicted of orchestrating an illegal adoption scheme in De Queen and several other locations had his appeal thrown out by a federal court this week.

Paul Petersen was sentenced in Arkansas in late 2020 to 6.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of human trafficking. Initially, the former Arizona attorney and politician faced 19 charges involving human trafficking and fraud, but that was reduced following a plea deal. 

Petersen was also sentenced to five years in prison in Arizona for Medicare fraud related to the illegal adoption service he ran for over a decade. The sentence will be served following completion of his prison term in Arkansas. 

Petersen previously served as the Republican assessor for Maricopa County in Arizona.

On Jan. 10, the 8^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Petersen’s sentencing in Arkansas. Petersen filed the appeal last year claiming the prison sentence and $100,000 fine were unfairly harsh. 

Adoption for profit

The charges all relate to an adoption scheme Petersen had orchestrated for years and which burst into the national scene in 2019. In effect, for at least the past decade Petersen had assisted in smuggling pregnant women from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the United States so their babies could be adopted for financial gain. Petersen charged couples $35,000 to adopt these children. 

Prosecutors described the scheme as a “baby-selling enterprise” and that Petersen had organized over 70 illegal adoptions. These actions violated a compact between the United States and Marshall Islands which bands Marshallese people from traveling to the United States for adoptions unless they have a specific visa. None of the women involved were provided that visa.

“Baby mill” in De Queen

Thanks to a multi-state investigation, Petersen’s actions were uncovered and federal charges swiftly filed against him. He was arrested in October of 2019. Nonetheless, the scheme left dozens of victims in its wakes. And many with a connection to De Queen.

De Queen was one of several locations used by Petersen to hide the women as they completed their pregnancies. Witnesses to one of the locations described it as a “baby mill,” with numerous pregnant women sleeping on mattresses on the floor. As many as 10 pregnant women were kept in a home in De Queen at any given time.

Officially what Petersen committed was human trafficking, but in many ways resembled imprisonment. If not in theory then almost certainly in practice. The women were isolated in De Queen, unable to speak the language or communicate their situation to anyone who could help. The women’s movements and communications were heavily restricted. Testimony provided against Petersen stated he and his surrogates intimidated victims into subservience by threatening to confiscate their passport and claiming that they’d never be able to see their family again unless they fully cooperated. 

Although Petersen’s scheme promised money and support, the situation pregnant Marshallese mothers faced when they arrived was not what they were told.

Instead, in many cases they found themselves trapped in squalid homes and in living conditions which prosecutors said hardly any American would tolerate. 

In December of 2020 a group of Marshallese women who were victims of the scheme visited the home in De Queen where they were kept. It was hoped the visit would bring some closure to these women’s experiences as victims of human trafficking. With Petersen now serving his sentence in a federal prison, that chapter might now be coming to a final end. 

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